Kingston Council members gave their seal of approval to a new library management agreement forged in the wake of new state standards.

The Jan. 14 full council session saw council vote 5-0 in favor of the agreement. It had been a matter of consideration for some months, after the state librarian’s office issued a new set of guidelines for local public libraries — policies that addressed everything from housekeeping to issues surrounding upkeep of the modern “electronic library.”

Steampunk is an increasingly popular science-fiction style that features steam-powered gadgetry, Victorian-era garb and more.

“It is one of the largest growing genres,” said RJ Foster.

It’s a niche that RJ Foster and wife, Roseanna Cooper-Foster, decided to explore after attending MegaCon, a science fiction event that features a little bit of everything from comic books, anime and popular science fiction movies and television programs.

Each year doctors, dentists and other medical personnel donate time, equipment and more to help the less fortunate.

Mission Lazarus is one such program, which helps individuals in Honduras and Haiti, and Raymond Holmes is one of the many Tennessee dentists who has donated time on trips and is helping to get a dental clinic formed in Honduras so they can do more than pull and clean teeth.

Shawn Clark with the Kingston Water Department works on sawing out asphalt to repair a water main break along Hwy. 70 due to below-freezing temperatures that swept over East Tennessee the week of Jan. 6. This was the fourth repair Kingston had. Oak Ridge Utility District helped locate the break.